Search warrant: Missoula man may have been high when German student shot

Markus Kaarma may have been under the influence of marijuana when he shot and killed German exchange student Diren Dede, according to a search warrant requested by Missoula police.

The search warrant also indicates that during previous burglaries of the Missoula home, unknown suspects had taken all the marijuana and marijuana pipes out of the garage.

Kaarma, 29, is charged with deliberate homicide for the shooting of the foreign exchange student, who was finishing his junior year abroad at Big Sky High School.

According to the affidavit, Kaarma and his wife, Janelle Pflager, had been robbed several times before and set the garage up to ensnare a potential burglar.

The garage door was intentionally left open and the couple set up a motion detector and a baby monitor in the space. A purse was also left in the garage.

In the early morning hours of April 27, Dede entered Kaarma’s open garage. Authorities have not indicated why Dede entered the garage, but once alerted to his presence, Kaarma grabbed a shotgun and exited the home. He fired four shots into the back of his garage, which was dark at the time.

Two of the shots hit and killed Dede, who was pronounced dead at St. Patrick Hospital.

According to the affidavit, Kaarma fired after the teenager attempted to make verbal contact with him. The affidavit also states that he told his hairdresser several days earlier that he had been staying up late at night to "kill some (expletive) kid."

Subsequent searches of the Grant Creek home revealed Kaarma kept a mason-style glass jar containing marijuana in a kitchen pantry, and a neighbor told police that Kaarma smoked marijuana in the garage.

A neighbor also informed police that burglars had taken marijuana and marijuana pipes out of the garage during the previous burglary.

A search warrant requested by Missoula Police Detective Dean Chrestenson and signed by District Court Judge Karen Townsend allowed law enforcement to take a blood sample from Kaarma on April 28, while he was in the Missoula County jail pending bail.

It's anticipated that the results of the blood draw will be available within a month.

On Tuesday, Kaarma's attorney said he is still investigating the allegation of marijuana use. Attorney Paul Ryan has indicated his client will plead not guilty.

“I don’t have to explain anything. Drug use is a vice effecting public health, morals and safety and we don’t need one more vice hurting our society.”

Yes, you do. You are defending the current policy so explain how it is not hypocritical based on your point of view of “health, morals and safety”.

Alcohol has been disastrous for public health, morals and safety in every possible way. Think of all the violence, rapes, accidents and body rot resulting from it. Plus it is a gateway to illegal drugs.

Tobacco kills more people than every illegal drug, alcohol and Rx drug COMBINED! Alcohol and tobacco would be far easier to control than pot so why don't they target it too? Why do they sell those drugs at every corner store 24/7 to people as young as 18?

Because the WOD is NOT about health, safety or morals. It is a racket to create a feeding trough for countless connected pigs. The connected people continue to sell illegal drugs at artificially high prices while we lose our privacy rights just keep those prices sky high. Government arms and protects the cartels while busting their competition. They seize competitor's assets and demand more WOD funding to line their own pockets. Over $1 TRILLION has been spent and you can still buy any drug you want in any city within 1 hour. Why? Because the "right" people will always sell them.

Government also allows big pharma to sell addictive drugs to CHILDREN for school. Many schools mandate it now. Your child can be prescribed METH and become addicted for life! Then they can sit around on welfare and have their addictive drugs delivered and paid by the taxpayer for life! 80% of heroin addicts today started with Rx drugs.

The addicts you are are afraid will drain society are already here! They are just hidden in housing projects getting their government approved drugs delivered on your dime. Slowly draining taxpayer dollars and sending it to big pharma.

It's 100% corruption. Just like everything our government has been doing since at least the early 20th century. Prohibition is a noble cause and I agree with it. However, it ALWAYS becomes corrupt due to the insane profit involved. Imagine the corruption during alcohol prohibition. Now multiply the profit by 10,000 in a global world. That is the WOD today. The best we can do is end it, kill the profits, treat/house the 2% of addicts (at half the cost of prison) and salvage what remains of our rights. Before it is too late...

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